The invention relates to a door hinge for a vehicle door, comprising a first and a second hinge half, each of which can alternatively be fastened to one of the door assembly parts door and door pillar; a hinge pin which connects the first and the second hinge halves pivotably to each other; a first guiding arrangement which is formed on one of the first and second hinge halves and is intended for securing at least one holding position for the door hinge; a first free end of a spring element secured on the other of the first and second hinge halves, which free end interacts with the first guiding arrangement; a second guiding arrangement which is formed on the one hinge half and is intended for securing at least one holding position for the door hinge; and a second free end of a spring element secured on the other hinge half, which end interacts with the second guiding arrangement.
DE-A-32 23 938 describes a door-securing means which is combined with a hinge and has a torsion bar spring secured on one hinge half, both ends of which spring are provided with running rollers which roll against two differently configured curved sections of the other hinge half, the curved sections defining different latching positions by means of latching depressions and cams. The known door-securing means has a series of deficiencies which have an adverse effect on its practical use. For example, in order for the door-securing means to function, a first cam plate on the one side of the pivot axis has to be acted upon while the other cam plate on the opposite side with regard to the hinge axis, acts upon a cam plate. This is necessary since the torsion bar spring would otherwise not be stressed. This causes moments to act on the hinge as a whole transversely to the pivot axis because of the prestressing of the torsion bar spring, said moments leading to increased wear of the hinge pin and to noisy running characteristics. Since the one end of the torsion bar spring bears on the rear side against the corresponding cam plate, the first hinge half has to be arranged near to one end side of the vehicle door so that the end with the running roller provided on it can reach behind the stop surface of the first hinge half. This leads at the same time to a nonuniform deformation of the two ends of the torsion bar spring, the ends being of different lengths as a result and causing different loads on the curved paths. A further disadvantage resides in the fact that the cam plates of the other hinge half are essentially arranged centrally, as a result of which a corresponding opening has to be provided in the first hinge half in order to allow them to pass through there. Finally, the necessary forces require a large lever between the mounting of the spring and its ends, and therefore cause larger hinge halves than necessary.
EP-B-0 338 348 describes a door hinge which connects a first hinge half and a second hinge half pivotably to each other via a hinge pin, the first hinge half having an opening in which the two ends of a torsion bar spring are fixed. The torsion bar spring has a design similar to a large B, there being arranged on the spring element, opposite the two free ends, a running roller which is intended to come to bear against an extension, which is connected in a rotationally fixed manner to the second hinge half, in order to act upon said extension in the region of a cam path. In this case, the spring element is held on that side of the first hinge half which faces the door assembly part, and extends with the latching roller a good distance beyond the region of the first hinge half in order to come into engagement with the guiding arrangement. The forces transmitted to the guiding arrangement are only small and have unfavorable lever ratios. In particular, the first hinge half has to be arranged close to one edge of the door assembly part, and has to be configured to be comparatively large in size. Also, the second hinge half has merely one single guiding arrangement which defines corresponding latching positions.
DE-A-12 30 328 describes a door-securing means for a door hinge, in which a spring element comprising a torsion bar is secured via a flat wire clamp on a strut of a first door assembly part where it takes on the function of a first hinge half whereas there is a curved path on a hinge reinforcement of the other door assembly part, said curved path defining a section of the torsion wire of the guiding arrangement, which section is configured in the manner of a spring fork. Moments occur transversely with respect to the hinge axis because the door-securing means is arranged outside the actual door hinge. The flat wire clamps are configured in such a manner that they secure a first section of the torsion wire parallel to the spring fork and secure a second section of the torsion wire essentially parallel to the legs of the U-shaped spring fork after said torsion wire has been bent around three corners.
DE-A-198 11 108 describes a door hinge which connects two hinge halves in an articulated manner via a hinge pin and secures latching positions of the hinge halves with respect to one another via an S-shaped spring element by the free spring end thereof gripping a profiled guiding arrangement of one of the spring halves. The disadvantage in the case of the known door hinge is its large space requirement since the guiding arrangement, which can have a contour defining a number of latching marks, is to be arranged at a certain distance from the hinge pin defining the pivot axis of the hinge, in order to ensure reliable transmission of the spring forces to the guiding arrangement. This distance, which is defined by the spring force to be set, defines the installation depth of the hinge, which depth in turn limits the dimensions of the beam to which the pillar-side hinge half is to be fastened. In addition, the one-sided load because of the spring element causes moments acting transversely with respect to the pivot axis of the door hinge, as a result of which the door hinge has a tendency to tilt and thus to become jammed.